If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

First Real DIY Project - Let It Rain

It was bound to happen sooner or later... I woke up one morning & realized like many others here, I had been bitten by the DIY bug! After reading numerous fellow HF members project write-ups & YT videos, I decided, "I can do that". I've done all kinds of silnylon stuff sacks but was I ready to take on something a little more challenging, not to mention what kind of gear project should I do? Considering my limited sewing skills, I decided to do a tarp... it looked simple enough & doable.

These days, its pretty easy finding just about everything you need for whatever kind of DIY project you can dream up. Between companies like RBTR & just about every hammock cottage vendor sourcing fabric, hardware & doodads for DIY, it's easy to find what you need. So, after some consternation, I went with Dutch's Xenon Sil .9 fabric with 300D fabric reinforcements for the corner & ridgeline tie outs. I did a special order Print2Fabric hex tarp in Cloakware pattern and chose to sew it all together with olive & orange colored Guttermann 70 thread... olive on the top side of the tarp & orange on the bottom.

In getting to the point I felt I was ready to get started, I practiced sewing all kinds of things on my wife's Viking machine, had some back & forth with HF members kitsapcowboy & jellyfish for some pointers & I lost count of how many times I watched jellyfish's DIY tarp tutorial video. And no Amy, I never got the hang of the rolled hem foot! Thanks guys, your tips & videos were very helpful.

I rec'd my order from Dutch & got started. Right off the bat I messed up cutting the Xenon fabric. Turns out the Print2Fabric pattern was missing one of the "cut here" lines on the fabric. So after figuring that out with Dutchware customer service, in attempting to make my last cut, I got off track with my cut by about 1". Crap! Rather than try and make up for what might have been an expensive screw up by making more cuts to compensate, I decided to turn the hex pattern into a hex with cat cuts. I found a pattern to go by at diygearsupply that worked out well. To help with the getting the cat curves right, I downloaded Xtrekker's Curve Calculator & that was the icing on the cake & it worked out great.

I wasn't in a big hurry to get the tarp completed & I made a few more screw ups during the build, but all in all, I'm happy with the results. lt was an interesting & fun project and like most things, by the time you get finished, everything starts looking like it's supposed to! I'm anxious to see how it performs on the trail with my new Trail Lair at some point but will have to wait until it cools down a bit... just a little too hot & muggy here in Tejas.

Schveet!! I have Eric Clapton playing in my mind. Yeah, the Dutchware figures in the pattern is adds some interest, like that.

"I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
- Kate Chopin

Awesome first DIY. Your line work looks nice and the tarp pitches very taut! Well done. The CloakWare pattern looks great and I like the hidden Dutch bling in there. Thatís pretty cool!

Thanks DTM... I didn't notice the Dutch bling images until I was almost done with the tarp. Had to look twice after I saw them the first time!

Originally Posted by MikekiM

Nice job... Stitching looks quite nice.

Thanks. I took it slow & steady but some seam ripping did occur!

Originally Posted by Bubba

Nice work.

Originally Posted by Big Flounder

Nicely done!

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by kitsapcowboy

Very well done. Glad to help out. Press on, and keep up the good work...

Thanks! It may be a while before I tackle another project.

Originally Posted by rweb82

Your stitching looks professionally done. Great work!

Thanks! It helps having a good machine. Years ago, I bought my wife a fairly high-end Viking sewing machine & it's pretty fancy. It has 25 different needle positions & does 20 different kinds of stitches, plus you can change the stitch length and a bunch of other features. One stitch I wound up using was a reinforced straight stitch that came in really handy for tacking down the grosgrain tie outs on all the corners & ridgeline ends. The hard part was working with the Xenon Sil .9 fabric, because it's super slick & at times was hard to work with, so I used a lot of pins & clips to keep things in place.